Thursday, November 30, 2017

Gianfranco Zola: ‘Who was wilder out of Maradona and Asprilla? Tino by miles’

Football | The Guardian
Gianfranco Zola: ‘Who was wilder out of Maradona and Asprilla? Tino by miles’
The former Napoli, Parma and Chelsea forward discusses his old team-mates, managing West Ham and a six-hour helicopter trip to try a new ice cream

Gianfranco Zola still keeps an eye out for West Ham United. It is nine years since the club gave him his first management opportunity and seven since they took it away in the summer of 2010. In total he led the club through 73 Premier League games, only 14 fewer than Slaven Bilic before the Croat was fired earlier this month and replaced by David Moyes.

That might be where the similarities end. “I cannot compare my experience to his,” says Zola. “I believe they are completely different. But I understand what he’s been through. Every manager, when things don’t go well, they feel bad about it. That, unfortunately, is our job.”

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Wednesday, November 29, 2017

DONE DEAL: Alan Pardew 'thrilled' to be West Brom manager; names John Carver No2

Tribal Football - Football News, Soccer News, Transfers & Rumours
DONE DEAL: Alan Pardew 'thrilled' to be West Brom manager; names John Carver No2
DONE DEAL: Alan Pardew 'thrilled' to be West Brom manager; names John Carver No2

West Brom have named Alan Pardew as new manager.

Pardew, a former Premier League manager with West Ham, Newcastle and Crystal Palace, has agreed a two-and-a-half-year contract.

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Tuesday, November 28, 2017

Spanish expert: Man Utd boss Mourinho will not accept Griezmann rejection

Tribal Football - Football News, Soccer News, Transfers & Rumours
Spanish expert: Man Utd boss Mourinho will not accept Griezmann rejection
Spanish expert: Man Utd boss Mourinho will not accept Griezmann rejection

Manchester United boss Jose Mourinho has made Atletico Madrid attacker Antoine Griezmann a priority 2018 transfer target.

Griezmann resisted a move to United last summer, but is now open to a deal with Atletico free to buy his replacement in January.

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Monday, November 27, 2017

Vincenzo Montella: AC Milan sack coach & place Gennaro Gattuso in charge

BBC Sport - Football
Vincenzo Montella: AC Milan sack coach & place Gennaro Gattuso in charge
Vincenzo Montella: AC Milan sack coach & place Gennaro Gattuso in charge
AC Milan sack Vincenzo Montella and place their former midfielder Gennaro Gattuso in charge of the first team.

Sunday, November 26, 2017

Can Motherwell cause League Cup final upset? Team news, stats and quotes

BBC Sport - Football
Can Motherwell cause League Cup final upset? Team news, stats and quotes
Can Motherwell cause League Cup final upset? Team news, stats and quotes
Preview followed by live coverage of Sunday's Scottish League Cup game between Motherwell and Celtic.

Saturday, November 25, 2017

‘All you need in a leader’: Sean Dyche’s stock keeps rising at Burnley

Football | The Guardian
‘All you need in a leader’: Sean Dyche’s stock keeps rising at Burnley

Burnley go into Sunday’s meeting with Arsenal level on points with Arsène Wenger’s side and those who have worked for and alongside their manager are in no doubt about his qualities

When Everton sacked Ronald Koeman on 23 October Sean Dyche was instantly cited among the favourites to replace him at Goodison Park. A month later the club are still without a permanent manager yet the speculation surrounding Dyche’s future has not proved a distraction. Burnley are up to seventh in the Premier League, four points ahead of eighth-placed Watford at the start of the weekend, and on Sunday face an Arsenal side who are ahead only on goal difference.

Twenty-two points after 12 matches is a fine return. Dyche’s side have just recorded three consecutive victories – a club record in the Premier League – and if it appears curious to some that Everton appear to have decided against Dyche, Burnley will hardly care. His ability to maintain focus and reel off those three wins on the bounce shows a key attribute: the level of control he commands over Burnley.

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Friday, November 24, 2017

Marouane Fellaini suing New Balance for £2m over ‘defective’ boots

Football | The Guardian
Marouane Fellaini suing New Balance for £2m over ‘defective’ boots
• Manchester United player says kit man had to steam and stretch boots
• New Balance says it sent new boots and Fellaini said they were ‘perfect’
• Mourinho fears Fellaini could leave United as contract talks drag on

A high court judge may have to examine a series of WhatsApp messages if asked to rule on a row over Marouane Fellaini’s boots.

The Manchester United midfielder says the sportswear giant New Balance provided “defective quality” boots which had to be “steamed and stretched” by a club kit man before he could wear them.

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Thursday, November 23, 2017

The Joy of Six: unlikely football career twilights

Football | The Guardian
The Joy of Six: unlikely football career twilights

From Micky Quinn’s eventful Greek swansong to Socrates’s freezing cold cameo in north Yorkshire, via Johan Cruyff sticking it to Ajax, George Best and more

It is hard to imagine a striker as typically old-school as Micky Quinn choosing to broaden his horizons. He was a burly scouser, his nickname was “Sumo” because of his wobbly midriff and he was unashamedly fond of a pie and pint. So how was it that he ended up seeing out his career in northern Greece with PAOK Thessaloniki aged 33? “They offered me twice as much money as I’d been earning for just one season in Greece.” Ah. He also wanted to carry on playing after being released by Coventry and had received very few offers in England despite having been prolific pretty much everywhere he played. His signing was seen as a coup in the Greek Super League. The club met him with garlands off the flight and hundreds of fans turned up to roar their approval as he stepped off the plane with eyes agog. That was as good as it got.

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Wednesday, November 22, 2017

Jordan Henderson: Don’t blame defence for Liverpool’s Sevilla collapse

Football | The Guardian
Jordan Henderson: Don’t blame defence for Liverpool’s Sevilla collapse
• ‘We let ourselves down … we stopped playing,’ says Liverpool captain
• Henderson blames failure to maintain supply line to Mané, Firmino and Salah

Jordan Henderson has insisted Liverpool’s defending was not the principal cause of their alarming collapse against Sevilla but conceded Jürgen Klopp’s team “let themselves down” in the Champions League.

Liverpool missed the chance to qualify for the knockout stage as group winners with a game to spare after squandering a three-goal interval lead in Andalusia on Tuesday. Alberto Moreno was withdrawn against his former club having erred for Sevilla’s first two goals, scored by Wissam Ben Yedder, while Guido Pizarro equalised in the 93rd minute when Liverpool failed to clear a corner.

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Tuesday, November 21, 2017

Oumar Niasse: Everton striker charged for dive against Crystal Palace

BBC Sport - Football
Oumar Niasse: Everton striker charged for dive against Crystal Palace
Oumar Niasse: Everton striker charged for dive against Crystal Palace
Everton striker Oumar Niasse becomes the first Premier League player to be charged by the FA for "successful deception of a match official".

Saturday, November 18, 2017

Thursday, November 16, 2017

Poyet: Chelsea midfielder Kante better than Casemiro, Busquets

Tribal Football - Football News, Soccer News, Transfers & Rumours
Poyet: Chelsea midfielder Kante better than Casemiro, Busquets
Poyet: Chelsea midfielder Kante better than Casemiro, Busquets

Former Chelsea midfielder Gus Poyet has declared N'Golo Kante as the best in the world.

Poyet says it's no surprise Chelsea defeated Manchester United last week with Kante back in the XI.

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Wednesday, November 15, 2017

Australia qualify for fourth World Cup in a row

BBC Sport - Football
Australia qualify for fourth World Cup in a row
Australia qualify for fourth World Cup in a row
Australia qualify for their fourth successive World Cup as they see off a physical Honduras 3-1 at Stadium Australia.

Tuesday, November 14, 2017

Mutiny on the bench symbolic of Italy’s swift decline under Ventura | Paolo Bandini

Football | The Guardian
Mutiny on the bench symbolic of Italy’s swift decline under Ventura | Paolo Bandini
Azzurri manager’s stubborn refusal to utilise Lorenzo Insigne of Napoli from bench in goalless draw against Sweden condemned the four-time World Cup winners to miss out on finals for first time since 1958

Apocalypse, how? The Italian Football Federation’s president, Carlo Tavecchio, had defined the prospect of missing out on the 2018 World Cup as a disaster of biblical proportions. Now the worst has come to pass, the Azzurri failing to qualify for the first time in 60 years after losing their playoff with Sweden. All that remains for a proud football nation is to analyse where it went wrong.

A partial answer could be found on the pitch at San Siro. Italy dominated Sweden with more than 75% of possession, yet lacked the subtlety to unpick a packed defence: pumping endless crosses into a penalty area where their opponents held a clear height advantage. A lack of nuance in the final third has been an ongoing problem for a team that has scored just three times in its last six competitive fixtures.

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Monday, November 13, 2017

Brighton captain Bruno: Knockaert and I good for eachother

Tribal Football - Football News, Soccer News, Transfers & Rumours
Brighton captain Bruno: Knockaert and I good for eachother
Brighton captain Bruno: Knockaert and I good for eachother

Brighton & Hove Albion captain Bruno admits he's enjoying his partnership with Anthony Knockaert.

The right-wing duo have featured together in seven of Albion's previous nine Premier League games.

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Saturday, November 11, 2017

Which Premier League club has toughest Christmas schedule?

BBC Sport - Football
Which Premier League club has toughest Christmas schedule?
Which Premier League club has toughest Christmas schedule?
Each Premier League team plays four games over the Christmas period, but how much recovery time do they have?

Friday, November 10, 2017

Sports quiz of the week: World Cup play-offs, Andrea Pirlo and a window cleaner

Football | The Guardian
Sports quiz of the week: World Cup play-offs, Andrea Pirlo and a window cleaner

Who needs some exercise? Who is a ‘good gamble’? And who is inedible?

Italy face a play-off to reach the 2018 World Cup. The four-times winners have only failed to qualify for one World Cup, in 1958. Who hosted it?

England

Sweden

Mexico

Brazil

Why will Scotland captain Danny Brough not be in the team when they play Samoa in their final group game at the Rugby League World Cup this weekend?

He injured himself in the shower

He was knocked out by a team-mate and didn’t pass a concussion test

He was sent home after being too drunk to board a flight

He accepted an offer to play for their rugby union team against Samoa

Peter Shilton played 125 times for England; Paul Bastock owns a window cleaning business. But which record do they share?

They both saved three penalties in one game for Leyton Orient

They have both made 1,249 appearances in club football

They are the only British goalkeepers to have been awarded OBEs

They have gone for 10 matches at the start of a season without conceding a goal

Complete this quote from Sergio Ramos: “Real Madrid could sign Neymar but we'd have to negotiate …”?

“… who takes free-kicks and penalties“

“… a way of paying no taxes”

“… his sister's birthday”

“… a sensible salary”

Celtic broke their own 100-year-old British record on Saturday by going 63 games without defeat in domestic competitions. Which side holds the European record, having gone 119 games without losing in the 1980s?

Milan

Cork City

Real Madrid

Steaua Bucharest

Who told whom to “get fit, you fat fuck”?

Eddie Jones to Mike Tindall

David Haye to Tony Bellew

Anthony Joshua to Tyson Fury

Slaven Bilic to Andy Carroll

Chelsea’s longest-serving player, Matej Delac, has announced he is planning to leave the club after seven years of service. How many competitive matches did he make for the club?

None

Two

Four

Eight

How did Rino Gattuso compare himself with his former team-mate, Andrea Pirlo?

Like “Buckfast and Beaujolais”

Like “two brothers from different mothers”

Like a “water carrier and a fine glass of wine”

Like “Nutella and shit”

Which of these trophies did Pirlo not win in his playing career?

World Cup

Champions League

European Championship

Coppa Italia

Serie A

Who said this about West Ham’s decision to appoint David Moyes as their new manager: “I think it’s a good gamble and I think if I was a West Ham chairman I would certainly consider David Moyes as manager, that’s for sure”?

Alex Ferguson

José Mourinho

Slaven Bilic

David Moyes

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Thursday, November 9, 2017

Jose frustration opens door for PSG

ESPN FC News
Jose frustration opens door for PSG
Manchester United should take PSG's interest in their manager seriously. If Jose Mourinho moves to France next year, Old Trafford chief Ed Woodward will have a good idea why: the failure to sign Ivan Perisic. Mark Ogden &#187

Wednesday, November 8, 2017

SIGN HIM UP! Ramires again training with Chelsea

Tribal Football - Football News, Soccer News, Transfers & Rumours
SIGN HIM UP! Ramires again training with Chelsea
SIGN HIM UP! Ramires again training with Chelsea

Jiangsu Suning midfielder Ramires has returned to Chelsea.

Ramires made Sunday's victory over Manchester United and is training with the first team squad this week.

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Tuesday, November 7, 2017

Mirallas apologises for 'frustration' - but denies 'lack of commitment'

BBC Sport - Football
Mirallas apologises for 'frustration' - but denies 'lack of commitment'
Mirallas apologises for 'frustration' - but denies 'lack of commitment'
Everton's Kevin Mirallas apologises for "not being able to cope" with his "frustration" - but denies a "lack of commitment" in training.

Thursday, November 2, 2017

James Collins: Wales and West Ham defender retires from international football

BBC Sport - Football
James Collins: Wales and West Ham defender retires from international football
James Collins: Wales and West Ham defender retires from international football
Wales defender James Collins retires from international football - but would be available in the event of an injury crisis.

Wednesday, November 1, 2017

Ramos: Real will put those who think we are dead in their place

English // marca
Ramos: Real will put those who think we are dead in their place
Ramos: Real will put those who think we are dead in their place

Sergio Agüero enters Manchester City record books after helping sink Napoli

Football | The Guardian
Sergio Agüero enters Manchester City record books after helping sink Napoli

It was a night that will go down in history in more ways than one as Sergio Agüero wrote his name into the record books by registering his 178th goal for Manchester City to move one ahead of Eric Brook and become the club’s all-time leading scorer. That goal proved to be one of the defining moments in a thrilling game that ended with Pep Guardiola’s side becoming the first English club to win in Naples, securing their place in the knockout stage of the Champions League and showing once again why they are arguably the outstanding team in Europe on current form.

Related: Napoli 2-4 Manchester City: Champions League – as it happened

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​Real Madrid join forces with Chinese social media platform

Tribal Football - Football News, Soccer News, Transfers & Rumours
​Real Madrid join forces with Chinese social media platform
​Real Madrid join forces with Chinese social media platform

Real Madrid have entered into a strategic partnership with Chinese social media platform Sina Weibo, reports, www.sportspromedia.com/.

Under the terms of the agreement, Weibo becomes the La Liga side's official Chinese-language social media platform. The two parties will work together to publish content such as information on the team's daily training, players' videos and bespoke activities for fans.

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Costa didn't complete training

English // marca
Costa didn't complete training
Costa didn't complete training